Ecologists Report Less Birds on Phone Lines

Some say it’s global warming;
others say it’s just the switch to cell phones
so the birds can’t feel the same thrum
of good old gossip under their feet
like when party lines existed
and a whole damn valley
would be yacking away about
some rich rancher’s son
who ran off with a housemaid
down south of the border
where the birds still winter
and exchange their stories.









William Cullen, Jr. is a veteran and works at a social services non-profit in Brooklyn, NY. His work has appeared in Canary, Concis, Gulf Stream, Spillway, The Christian Science Monitor and Word Riot.

You can see more of his work in 3.3 and 4.1 and 4.2